UNITED NATIONS – In an unyielding address before the U.N. General Assembly yesterday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran rebuffed attempts to rein in his country's nuclear program, railing against the United States as an aggressor and restating a compromise proposal that had already been rejected.

Ahmadinejad repeatedly stressed that Iran would not relinquish its "right to pursue peaceful nuclear energy" and accused the U.S. of bullying others and attempting to divide the world into "light and dark countries," repeatedly clenching his fist and jabbing his finger in the air for emphasis.

U.S. and European officials had been anxiously awaiting Ahmadinejad's address, hoping it would offer either a solution to end months of standoff or provide ammunition in their drive to send Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible political and economic sanctions because of Iran's attempts to hide the extent of its nuclear program. Iran maintains that it is not seeking nuclear weapons and has the right to process uranium for nuclear fuel.

Ahmadinejad used most of his 29-minute speech to inveigh against the United States and its allies, including accusing Americans of brutalizing Iraqis and Afghans and trying to impose a nuclear energy program in Iran that he called "apartheid."

"Every day they are threatening other nations with nuclear weapons, and they are never inspected," he said. He said Western countries were "relying on their power and wealth to try to impose a climate of intimidation and injustice over the world," even while portraying themselves as defenders of freedom, democracy and human rights.

Only one element of what Ahmadinejad described as an eight-point plan to resolve the standoff over its nuclear program was an actual proposal. That was his offer, as he put it, "to engage in a serious partnership with private and public sectors of other countries in the implementation of uranium enrichment program in Iran."

Under that idea, Iran would pursue uranium enrichment in concert with other countries – South Africa has been mentioned – so the West could be assured that the product was for peaceful use only. When that idea was offered earlier, the United States and Europe rejected it, saying they did not trust the Iranians not to cheat. Ahmadinejad did not refer to that earlier discussion in his speech.

Ahmadinejad has kept a tough stance against attempts to limit Iranian nuclear technology. Soon after he took office in June, Iran resumed the processing of uranium, in defiance of the United Nations.

During a news conference after his speech yesterday, he maintained that Iran needed nuclear power, even though it has abundant oil, because eventually "the oil is going to run out."

He spoke just 48 hours before the U.N. agency in charge of nuclear proliferation was to meet in Vienna to decide what next steps to take against Iran.

After Ahmadinejad's address, Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French foreign minister, said, "What I heard today makes me predict that the option of reporting Iran to the Security Council remains on the agenda." France, England and Germany have been negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program.